Anticreeper.



W. H. FERGUSON.

ANTICREEPER.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 5. 1914.

Patented Spt. 7, 1915.

E SAS era iA i WILLIAM I-I. FERGUSON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE P. @c M. CO., 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ANTICREEPR.

niaasoa.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

Application led January 5, 1914. Serial No. 810,458.

To @ZZ whom. it may concern.:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM H. FERGU- soN, a citizen of the United States, lresiding at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Anticreepers, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvement-s in anti-Creepers.

The objects of my invention are; to provide an improved device of this character which shall effectively grip the rail base; to provide a construction adapted to increase its grip upon a very minute movement of the rail; to accomplish these results with what is practically a one piece construction (except for a small pin or cam) and to provide an improved anti-Creeper, which lends itself to economical manufacture and to ready assembling on the rail base.

In the accompanying drawings, I 'have illustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention. Other forms may, of course. be devised, which fall within the scope of sud invention.

Figure 1, of the drawings is a top plan view of a portion of a rail having one forni of improved anti-Creeper applied thereto. Fig. 2, is a section of t-he line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a top plan view of said anchor. Fig. 4, is a perspective view of a pin.

The anti-Creeper illustrated, comprises a plate or yoke 1, having abutments or jaws 2, 3, at the opposite ends and arranged preferably diagonally with respect to each other. Said plate is constructed preferably of malleable iron; said jaws and other parts hereinafter described being integral therewith. An additional abutment or shoulder 4 is provided, `the latter being arranged prel erably opposite the jaw 3. Said jaw is adapted to grip the rail base firmly to resist creeping, whereas the jaw 2 is not intended to grip the rail as firmly. Its main function is to hold the rail anchor up against the rail, while the pin or cam 5 is being driven down between the vertical face of the abutment 4 and the adjacent edge of the rail base. lSaid pin is received within a recess or opening 6 in plate 1. In the drawings, Said recess does not extend all the way through said plate, whereby the bottom of the recess serves to limit the downward movement of the pin 5. However, I do not desire to limit myself to a recess of this character. The cross sectional outline of the pin and the contour of the opening may be varied within certain limits, the purpose being to. provide for a rolling action of said pin to cause it to increase its effective diameter upon the slightest forward movement of the rail whereby said movement is checked in its incipiency.

For purposes of illustration I have shown the pin as more or less elliptical in cross section, the vertical wall of the abutment which takes up the thrust, being in this case substantially parallel to the rail base but not exactly or necessarily so. Said pin 'is provided preferably on opposite sides with sharpened ridges or teeth 7, whereby as said pin is driven downwardly between the said shoulder and rail base, said teeth cut into or bite into the opposite surfaces, therebyvinsuring the rolling action above referred to; that is, a turning movement about a vertical axis, when the rail advances. The effect of this action is to crowd the rail even more firmly against the vertical wall of the opposite jaw 3, which latter grips it also both above and below to prevent further creeping. The pin may be made of high carbon steel, rolled and then tempered or case hardened, or it may be made of other suitable material, preferably harder than the malleable iron or other material of which the body of the anchor is composed.

The anchor is provided with a down wardly extending flange S suitably reinforced by a bracket 9. Said flange is adapted to bear against the vertical face of a cross tie 10, the latter supporting the usual rail 11, to which the rail anchor is secured.

In assembling the rail anchor, the jaws 2 and 3 are hooked over the rail base, the distance between said jaws being sutlicie'nt to permit the anchor to be readily applied thereto, when said jaws are arranged along 4a line at right angles to the longitudinal aXis of the rail. The device is thereafter swung around to the position seen in Fig. 1 and the pin 5 driven home. lVhen the rail tends to creep in a forward direction, as is customarily the case where conditions are such that rail anchors of this general character are employed, the wedging action previously described, takes place. If the rail undergoes a rearward movement, as happens occasionally, the ballastinterferes with the rearward movement of the anti-Creeper and particularly with the flange 8, causing a binding action of the pin 5 in a reverse direction, especially where the ballast is frozen solid. In any case, however, the anticreeper does'not become loose enough to fall from the rail, being positively held thereto by the jaws 2,3, and accordingly litis in position to again grip the rail firmly and prevent forward creeping when the rail tends to advance.

It is obvious that the invention may be embodied in tie plate form in which case creeping infonefdirection will be prevented as effectively as in the other direction.

The invention is not to be limited to the various details of construction described and illustrated, except where limitations are imposed in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. An anti-creeper comprising a base plate'having a pair of vvertical walls, between which the rail is received, and a freely rotatable member arranged between one of said walls and the adjacent edge of the rail base, said member being of elliptical cross section whereby it is adapted to be forced further against the rail, upon longitudinal movement of the latter.

2. An anti-creeper comprising a base plate having a vertical shoulder, and a pin of non-circular outline held against said shoulder by the edge of the rail base, said pin being compressed on its shortest diameter whereby its effective diameter increases and crowds it more irmly against said rail `base when it is rolled along said shoulder by the movement of said rail base.

3. An anti-Creeper comprising a base plate having a recess therein, a pair of jaws thereon spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the rail base, said jaws being arranged normally diagonally opposite to each other and being adapted to secure the rail anchor in place,

said recess being arranged substantially op-l posite to one vof said jaws, and a pm arranged in said recess between a vertical wall thereof and the adjacent edge of the rail base and arranged to turn about a vertical axis, the bottom of said recess serving to limit the downward movement of said pin.

4. An anti-Creeper comprising an extending beneath the rail base, a rail gripelement ping-jaw on one end of said element and a rail check of approximately elliptical contour at the other end of.said element, between which said rail is normally gripped, the gripping being automatically increased by a bodily rolling movement of said rail check caused by the longitudinal movement of said rail. j

5. An anti-creeper comprising a plate extending beneath the rail base, a jaw on one side of said member and a cam element at the other side of said member, between which said rail may be gripped to prevent creeping, and a second jaw on-said member on the side opposite said first jaw, whereby said jaws may hold said anti-Creeper to the rail base, independently of said cam.

6. ln an 'anti-Creeper, a base plate having a recess therein with a wall substantially parallel to the rail base, a pin of approximately elliptical contour arranged in said recess, and having sharpened teeth thereon adapted to bite into the walls of said recess and a tie abutting flange depending from said base plate to resist the creeping thrust.

7. ln an anti-Creeper, a base plate having a recess therein, a non-circular pin arranged within said recess, said pin having vertically arranged sharpened ribs thereon to grip the walls of said recess and the edge of a rail base and an abutment adjacent to said recess to provide an enlarged bearing surface for said pin.

8. An anti-creeper comprising, in ccmbination, a wall substantially parallel to the adjacent edge of the rail base and a rail check of approximately elliptical contour so arranged between said wall and edge as to crowd against the rail base 'when'rolled thereby.

9. An anti-creeper comprising, in combination, an abutment substantially parallel to the adjacent edge of the rail base and a rail check of approximately elliptical contour provided on opposite sides with roughened surfaces adapted to engage simu taneously said abutment and edge to prevent creeping by rolling movement thereof.

10. A non-pivotally mounted rail check of` approximately elliptical contour, arranged normally to be compressed on its shortest diameter.

In witness whereof, l have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two wit- Witnesses:

W. W. HEALEY, ROYAL D. HAWLEY.

1 los- 

